On September 27, 2026, Madonna made a triumphant return to the MTV Video Music Awards. This marked the iconic pop star’s first live performance on the show in 23 years. Madonna has some unique ties to the history of the award show.
43 years ago, on September 14, 1984, her performance at the VMA’s sparked controversy following her theatrical performance of “Like A Virgin”. She stepped out of a giant, 17-foot wedding cake, dressed in a wedding gown studded with sparkly jewelry and lace fingerless gloves. She crawled around on the stage and accidentally flashed the audience in one of the most memorable VMA moments in history. That night turned Madonna into the icon we’re familiar with today.
Madonna had the honor of opening the 2026 MTV Video Music Awards, during which she capitalized on the moment. In June 2026, Madonna released a short film/music video accompanying her latest release, Confessions II. The star-studded short film included multiple celebrity cameos, including modern pop sensation Sabrina Carpenter. In her opening performance, she carried over the same theme of the short film, which features surreal visual laser beam effects shooting from human rear ends and groin areas, to put it delicately.
Is This Her Strangest VMA Performance?
Madonna brought this same maximalist imagery to the VMA stage. Her backup dancers appeared to be shooting lasers out of butt plugs in a bizarre visual to open the ceremony. Viewers took to social media to comment on what they just witnessed. “Madonna literally has lasers coming out of her dancers a**,” One X user posted. Another stated, “Moments ago, MTV has Madonna on live TV with laser butt plugs.” In the comments, the user added, “I go from watching the Ravens beat the Cowboys to a** lasers from Madonna. WTF.”
Others took to social media to point out the singer’s possible use of butt pads during the performance. One user posted, “Madonna is performing the opening of the #VMAs, and it looks like her butt is stuffed with something. Do you all see it?”
Another wrote, “Madonna was wearing butt pads. They’ve been around for years”. Some pointed out how this was a bad look for the singer, stating, “With all due respect, why doesn’t Madonna remove the buttcheeks implants? At her age, it really looks like she’s wearing a diaper.”
Despite all of this, Madonna earned seven awards during the ceremony, including Artist Of The Year. During her acceptance speech for Best Dance Video, she jokingly pulled a butt plug out of her butt. This was a funny way to acknowledge her bizarre video imagery and her performance from earlier in the evening.
Photo by Santiago Felipe/GC Images
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